Avery Brooks – Bio, Wife, Family, Children, Height, Net Worth

Fans of the Star Trek franchise, who are called Trekkers or Trekkies, and possibly all the geeks from all around the world, will never forget the contribution of actor Avery Brooks to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999), where he played the NAACP and Saturn Award-nominated role of Benjamin Sisko.

Brooks, who in addition to his acting career, is also a singer, director, and theatre professor, is further known for his roles in Spenser: For Hire (1985–1988), and American History X (1998), among others.

Avery Brooks’ Bio

Avery Brooks was born Avery Franklin Brooks to Eva Lydia (née Crawford) and Samuel Brooks, on the 2nd of October, 1948, in Evansville, Indiana. His father was a union official and tool and die worker for agricultural equipment manufacturing company, International Harvester, while his mother was a choral conductor and music teacher. She was not the only member of the family who could entertain people with their vocal cords as her father, brother, and husband (Brooks’ father), were all singers, a trait that was passed on to Brooks.

At around the age of 8, after Brooks’ father lost his job, the family moved to Gary, Indiana, in search of a better life. While his mother went ahead to become one of the first African-American women to earn a master’s degree in music at Northwestern University, he himself attended and graduated from Indiana University and Oberlin College. He later returned to Rutgers University where he got a Bachelor of Arts and Masters of Fine Arts in acting and directing in 1976, becoming the first African American to achieve such a feat. The school further recognized him by appointing him as an associate professor of theatre arts.

While going about his career as an educator, Avery Brooks appeared in various plays in the 70s, however, it was not until he appeared in the one-man play by Phillip Hayes Dean titled, Paul Robeson, in the early 80s, that he was duly recognized as a talented actor. Brooks received critical acclaim for his portrayal of the life of the famous singer, actor, and civil rights activist which he performed all across America and on Broadway. His foray into film and television acting came soon after as he landed the role of Hawk in the detective series Spenser: For Hire (1985–1988) and the rest became history.

Avery Brooks Net Worth

A few publications have estimated Avery Brooks to be worth around $60 million. While we can not authenticate the figure, we are not surprised to see him estimated to be worth that much, thanks to his careers as a television and theatre actor and theatre professor.

Thanks to his deep baritone, the Star Trek actor, who received an NAACP Image Award and Saturn Award nomination for his performance in the series, is also a singer and voice-over artist. He voiced the character of Capt. Benjamin Sisko in Star Trek: Legacy (2006) video game before going ahead to release a spoken word album and one of jazz and blues covers in 2009.

Family – Wife, Children

For over four decades, Avery Brooks has been happily married to his wife, Vicki Lenora Brooks (nee Bowen). Not much is known about the couple who exchanged vows far back in 1976, as Brooks has publicly stated that he loves to keep personal things about him to himself. What is, however, known is that Mrs. Brooks once served as the assistant dean at Rutgers University.

Another piece of information that is known about them is that they have three children; Ayana, Cabral, and Asante. The exact date of birth of the children are not known, but in 1989, Essence Magazine listed his their ages as 9 for Ayana, 8 for Cabral, and 1 for Asante. If those figures are anything to go by, all of Brooks children must have graduated college and are making a living for themselves.

Height

Many people over the years have described Avery Brooks to be an imposing man. This is thanks to his height of 6 feet 1 inch (185.4 cm) as well as other features that include a close-cropped head and a mouth framed with a mustache and short beard. He further weighs about 190 lbs (86 kg).